Grounding and Shielding of Electronic Systems
Well designed electronic systems operate reliably in their intended electromagnetic environment. They are not
affected by voltage spikes on their power or signal lines; they function normally in the presence of strong
electric or magnetic fields; and the systems’ own fields do not interfere with other systems nearby. In a well
designed system, the cost of grounding, shielding and filtering is usually a negligible percentage of the overall
system component costs. Unfortunately, many electronic systems are not well designed. It is not unusual for a
company to spend millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours attempting to track down and correct system
malfunctions that are the direct result of improper grounding and shielding. This course reviews the fundamental
grounding, filtering and shielding concepts that all engineers need to be familiar with in order to ensure the
safety and reliability of their products at the lowest possible cost.
Course Outline
- Introduction
- Overview of Electromagnetic Compatibility Failure Mechanisms
- Examples of Good and Bad System Designs
- Current Flow in Systems
- Tracing Current Paths
- Concept of Least Impedance
- Design Examples
- Coupling Mechanisms
- Common-Impedance Coupling
- Electric Field Coupling
- Magnetic Field Coupling
- Radiated Coupling
- Design Examples
- Grounding
- Ground vs. Signal Return
- Isolated Grounds
- Grounding Strategies for Large Systems
- Grounding Strategies for Black Boxes
- Grounding for Mixed-Signal Systems
- Shielding
- Shielding Theory
- Electric Field Shielding
- Magnetic Field Shielding
- Shielded Enclosures
- Cable Shields
- Filtering
- High-Frequency Behavior of Components
- Power Line Filtering
- High-Frequency Filtering
- Transient Protection
- Troubleshooting System-Level EMC Problems
- Identifying the Source
- Identifying the Coupling Mechanism
- EMC Troubleshooting Tools and Techniques
- Effective EM Measurements
- EM Modeling Tools
Course Instructor
 |
Dr. Todd H. Hubing |
| |
|
